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He didn't even do that job very well. Too many of the moves he's made over the last 6-7 years defy any sort of justification. He did nothing to help the team get into the playoffs handing out many of the contracts to the players he did.

AA ain't no star. Not even close. That's the sad part. We're in this s***ty of a situation with an above-average prospect who could maybe be a 40-50 point guy one day if things pan out extremely well? These are sad times.
That said, tough to argue still that he's not one of our better prospects. Again, sad times...
Exactly. You can like the guy or think little of him, but he's one of our best young players on a team that doesn't have many promising guys. It's a sad state to be in, but you can't put yourself in a position where you're willing to let guys like AA and Mrazek head out of town. We cannot afford to give up on our promising prospects that easily, and again, it scares the s*** out of me that in one summer, we've realistically had to deal with the potential of losing both. I'm completely over defending Holland at this point. The guy is bordering on pure cap incompetence.

I’m no tax expert, but where does the “no taxes” info come from? I feel like I’ve read it and seen it enough that if what you’re saying is true, someone would’ve said something by now. Or perhaps it is true, but there are other factors? Perhaps it’s $3 million guaranteed and any tax burden accumulated is covered? Again, no expert, and I don’t follow KHL contracts very closely at all, but I don’t feel like agents and many in the press would continue on with saying “tax free” money if there wasn’t more to it.
I guess I’m just saying that I don’t think any players are going to read this and go “oh snap!” They’d be pretty pissed at their agents at this point if so.

I think it's really interesting, and also pretty damn scary, that we've been in the position of potentially losing AA and Mrazek this summer because this team couldn't find a way to make them work in the system for one reason or another. No matter what you think of either of these players all in all at the end of the day, on a team that's sorely lacking in young talent, these are two guys who have at times shown some of the best potential we've seen from our roster.
Why is Mrazek struggling so much when he's shown that he's clearly capable of elite-level play and has had two solid playoff outings under his belt, and why in the hell are we seriously in a position where we made him available to Vegas in the expansion draft?
Why is AA ready to go to Russia at this point in his career?
Again, on a team that's so sorely lacking in legitimate young talent, these two things should be unthinkable. You've really got to wonder what is going on with this team from the top down that this stuff is going on. Money always plays a part in it, but it seems reasonable to suggest that it's a given that there's gotta be more to it, and clearly Blashill doesn't seem to be a player favorite, and few people seem able to come up with much to defend him.
Only thing I'll say to defend Blash is that he is a young NHL coach, and he's been dealt a s*** hand. Has he made countless fumbles? Yes, absolutely. But he could come around down the line, I'm willing to be open minded about it.
But not on this team. Already too much poison in the air. Holland has to move aside for someone with a clear and new direction, and Blash has got to go. Probably next summer.
But hey, like Frank said, maybe we can ride this dumpster fire to that big #1 pick! Funny.

And this is another part that I don’t think all are considering. We’re not going to get the best out of our kids if we run the team like we do. And the kids would do well to have some solid veterans on the team that aren’t on the verge of retiring, and the way things are going now, we’re in no position to land anyone. We don’t have the money, we don’t have the assets, and we’ve long sinc destroyed our reputation as a destination club. There are so many problems that have been neglected or dealt with poorly over the last 6-7 years in particular, and I really don’t see Holland pulling us out of this nosedive.

Big or small part, by no means can it help. I don’t think AA would be thinking so seriously about the KHL if he was getting more playing time and he felt that the team had his back more. Between Blashills use of him and Holland’s negligence, he clearly must not feel like a priority to the Wings.
Why shouldn’t he at least consider going for the money, the Olympics, and extra minutes?
I think if most people here translated the situation to a context they could relate to more in their personal lives, they’d be more understanding.

I definitely agree that I think it’d be nuts to buckle to the KHL prices and I don’t think anyone wants that. My point is that we shouldn’t be having this conversation. Had Holland been doing his whole job and thinking long term, we wouldn’t have to be here in this situation. This would’ve been buttoned up awhile ago with much less drama. You think any of this looks good for the Wings in any way? This is simply another part of the big picture of a crumbling empire with poor leadership.
There are too many important parts to the job to completely flounder at so many of them year after year. I used to think Holland was merely a bit washed up and unmotivated and perhaps too sentimental. At this point, I’m honestly starting to think he’s truly in over his head in the cap era. He consistently hasn’t been able to get the job done well since he started having to deal with the real ramifications of the salary cap era. Our current cap situation combined with years and years of stagnation and countless bad contracts before our current ones is evidence of a GM who doesn’t know how to effectively do their job anymore. This didn’t happen overnight, but signs of problems have been there for years and it keeps snowballing.
This team needs fresh thinking.

I don’t think anyone’s capable of really defending the situation that we’re in here. They talk about building from the draft and being smart and this and that. And yet AA is undeniably one of our better young players that we’ve drafted, when we haven’t drafted many very promising players, and there’s a very good chance he’ll be playing in Russia soon. The fact that the KHL has come up at all is pathetic. This team is mismanaged, plain and simple. It’s nothing new, but it is what it is.

Totally fair enough. I wasn't referring directly back to everything but was kinda replying generally to a sentiment that's been expressed by many and kinda latched on to your post. I see what you were saying more clearly and I apologize if I came off as an ass. I mean, we're all here talking about hockey and cheering for the Wings as far as I'm concerned, everything I say is should be taken as spirited but good-natured banter at worst.

So we’re going to get impatient with Mrazek who’s had higher NHL highs than Howard ever has had at a younger age than Howard was when Howard got his “last chance” and finally got his s*** together?
Makes sense.
I’m not saying Mrazek is the savior and he could disappear to Europe in no time, but he’s a better long term bet than Howard, and we’re not in a position to be gambling. If a brittle 33 year old Howard who’s consistently floundered in the playoffs (when healthy...) is our best shot, you’re in serious trouble.
You bet on youth when you’re prospect-poor and you’ve got a goalie that’s shown extended glimpses of pure elite brilliance. It’s simple as that.

I’ll dig more into older Howard references, but here’s an early one that references his slow development and poor start with the organization. Again, not surprised at all how people have conveniently forgotten how all but written off Howard was when he initially joined the team.
http://blog.mlive.com/regners-ravings/2010/04/post.html
And to be clear, I’m not saying Howard is “the worst” and I’m not wildly enthused about either goalie really at this point given all that’s gone on. Mrazek has a lot of work to do to prove he can be a big game goalie consistently, though I do believe he has the potential to be great.
But Howard has had a career based on wild ups and downs, and he kicked off his NHL career at an older age than Mrazek is now!
All I’m saying is I think it’s well worth giving Mrazek a bit more benefit of the doubt. We’re not an organization rich in top-notch prospects, and while Mrazek’s fallen from grace, he’s still very young and with the right attitude and choices, he still has potential to turn things around.

Howard ran his mouth to the media too much and was negative plenty even just a couple seasons ago. He didn’t take well to Mrazek moving past him at all, even at 30+ years of age. And he hasn’t handled pressure and bad games well consistently either throughout his career. He took far longer to make it into the league because he was lazy and in poor condition in the minors; when he made the team, at an age that I believe is older than Mrazek even is now, it was because they were out of options to keep him in the minors and it was his last chance.
This whole idea of Howard being a mature, mental-rock has only been born in the last year or so when people decided to get whiny about Mrazek.

Oh, it’s hardly upsetting. It’s the pure hilarity of it all at this point. Only this team is this silly at this point. We make less trades than any other team in the league by a large margin and these are the kind of moves we do.

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